


Yielding

by lcdsra



Series: LCDSRA's A-Z Soulmate Prompts [25]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2020-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:35:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27899965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lcdsra/pseuds/lcdsra
Summary: /ˈyēldiNG/adjective1. (of a substance or object) giving way under pressure; not hard or rigid.Or: Celeste believes in her soulmate so much she’s willing to waste away for him.
Relationships: Bailey/Celeste
Series: LCDSRA's A-Z Soulmate Prompts [25]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1935553





	Yielding

**Author's Note:**

> Abusive relationships are discussed in this story. Not all abusive relationships show up like this and I have personally never experienced abuse. If the topic triggers you in any way, please don't read this. If you need help with anything like this in the story, please seek help, and stay safe.
> 
> AU: You can take on your soulmate’s emotional pain.
> 
> Character(s): Celeste, Bailey, Setsuko, Katasha  
> Relationship(s): Bailey/Celeste  
> Warning(s): Abusive relationships

Celeste liked to think she was smart. Maybe not book smart, but street smart. She was good at reading people’s intentions, usually. Even if they were coated in something sugary sweet, she’s managed to avoid them.

Which made her incident with Bailey an embarrassing exception.

She did not know who Bailey McDonald was until it was too late. He was charming and nice, head of the football team. She was popular, kind, part of the swimming team. Once night after their respective practices were over, they bumped into each other and figured out Celeste could take Bailey’s emotional pain away.

The day, the pain was just frustration. He was frustrated at the loss, embarrassed almost. She made him feel better.

“You make me feel so much better.” He had said.

She should’ve noticed that as a warning sign.

: : :

Celeste frantically texted the first contact that was in her messages that Bailey hadn’t deleted. He removed the majority of her friends that openly criticized him from her contacts, all her male friends. They were competition, not good enough, trying to take her away from him.

But no, no, they wanted to help. She needed _help please_.

She wrote,

You: Please pick me up I’m going to die he’s going to kill me pelase

She nearly screamed when she heard him pound on the door. “Celeste, open the door!”

“No!” She shrieked, “I’m leaving!”

“You’re not leaving! Where would you go?!” He demanded, his voice muffled. “No one cares about you like I do, they hate you!”

“Stop!” Tears streamed down her face as she shakily curled up. She might’ve heard her phone buzz, but another round of banging made the room shake.

“Celeste, you’re being dramatic! I’ve never hurt you, just let me in!”

“Stop acting like you’re innocent!”

“You stop acting like you’ve just been too weak to do anything! You could’ve just said stop!”

Celeste covered her ears, screaming back, “I am!” _Please please just stop_.

With her ears covered, the noise around her was muffled. It was almost peaceful, away from taking on Bailey’s emotions, all alone in her own safe world…

She felt the next text that came in. It buzzed against her body, a disruption to her safe space.

Celeste opened the text. It was Setsuko, but they hadn’t talked since high school.

Sets: Can you leave from the door?

You: No

Sets: You can get out the window, jump

Celeste scrambled to the widow, backpack in hand. She had the most important things of hers in her backpack and nothing else.

Another text came in. Celeste could feel her heart pounding in her chest as she opened the door.

Sets: Roll when you land, don’t go rigid, I’m in the car that’s headlights are on in the middle of the parking lot

Celeste didn’t think. For the first time in her life, she didn’t consider any time of motive. She just jumped.

: : :

Arguing woke Celeste up from her troubled sleep. The memories came back to her as conciseness came back. Yelling at her soulmate, oh _no_ she yelled at Bailey she was _dead_ -

“We don’t have room for her.” A familiar, yet strange voice hissed at someone.

Celeste tensed at the tone, at least until Setsuko spoke, “I can make room for her. My room is bigger, I can find another dresser and desk, maybe get a bunk bed. We can make it work.”

“Setsuko,” The unknown voice sighed out.

“She has no where else to go except back to that abusive bastard.”

“How do you know he’s abusive?”

“I know Bailey, I saw the marks Celeste had yesterday. People don’t just text this in a panic for no reason.”

Oh yeah, now she remembered. Setsuko told her to jump out the window, then rushed her away from Bailey. Oh, he needed her…

“We’ll need to figure this out now, Sets.” The second voice said sternly. “What if he comes back? Makes a claim we kidnapped her.”

“I’ll show them the texts.”

“You know she might go back to him, right?”

A pause. Celeste could hear her heart pounding in her ears. “What do you mean?” Setsuko asked quietly, so quietly she almost missed it.

“Abuse is difficult to break. He was probably emotionally and mentally abusive. Told her she couldn’t live without him. Years of that can’t be undone overnight.”

“Katasha, how do you know this?”

Oh. The second voice was Katasha then. Celeste didn’t know her as well as Setsuko. They were friends by proxy, tolerated each other, but if Setsuko wasn’t there to bind them they didn’t care for each other.

“Research and experience. We need a therapist because we are not trained to break the cycle properly.”

“I can get the money.” Setsuko replied. “You do the research?”

“Sure.” Katasha replied, her tone lighter this time.

Celeste shut her eyes tightly, and felt herself drift back to sleep with the words, she’ll go back to him echoing in her dreams.

: : :

She tried. After she woke up properly, Setsuko introduced her to Katasha, who managed a small smile before explaining that unlabeled food in the fridge was free game, but marked ones with names weren’t to be touched. She offered to make eggs, which Celeste declined.

She wasn’t really hungry.

Setsuko left for nearly the entire day, while Katasha stuck around awkwardly, as if unsure of herself. She hugged the walls while giving the tour, nearly jumping out of Celeste’s way if she moved too close.

It seemed like she was afraid of Celeste, but why would she be? She wasn’t scary.

Setsuko came back and took Celeste on a shopping trip while Katasha rearranged the room. Setsuko recommended comfortable clothing, tees, long sleeves, jeans, and to pick out a stuffed animal or a soft blanket to sleep with.

Celeste chose a purple dragon.

Next, they went to a furniture store. Apparently Katasha and Setsuko had done this before and were familiar with the store. They chose a bunkbed together (Celeste wanted to top bunk, and Setsuko agreed) and she got to choose her dresser and a desk.

The purchases were made with a single card, which made her curious. What did Setsuko or Katasha do for a living? Before she could ask, they were already rushing home.

They might’ve talked a lot, Celeste didn’t really remember. She was so used to spacing out and controlling herself through autopilot that even when Setsuko insisted she was safe, mentally, she was still prepared to take on Bailey’s emotions.

Because that was her job, her responsibility. Bailey was her soulmate and soulmates could take each other’s emotional pain away, why wouldn’t she?

If there was one word Celeste caught though, was balance. Setsuko hadn’t met her soulmate, but she did read about it a lot. In relationships, not just soulmate ones, it was important for the people to balance the responsibly and the emotions.

“But Bailey provides for me.” Celeste protested. “He’s good for me.”

“Celeste,” Setsuko sighed. “You’re so good at seeing through people, why can’t you see this?”

: : :

Katasha had rearranged Setsuko’s room so there was more room. “Found everything?” She asked, lounging on the couch.

“Sure did.” Setsuko confirmed. “I’ll go get your things, do you want something to eat?”

Celeste shrugged. “I don’t know.”

Setsuko left, leaving Celeste and Katasha alone, possibly for the first time ever. Katasha seemed relatively preoccupied, so Celeste took the time to wander. The silence let guilt creep in, because Bailey would be missing her. He could barely function without her help, only her help.

“Celeste,”

She turned. “Yeah?”

“How are you feeling?”

Celeste tilted her head, curious. Katasha was notorious for not being emotional, so this was a curious turn. “I’m, good?”

Katasha looked at her, her mis-matched eyes sharp and curious. “Good.” She replied, finally. “We’ve talked about you visiting someone every week.”

“Who?”

“Her name is Sylvia Faulkner. If you don’t like her, that’s fine.”

Celeste squinted her eyes at Katasha. “What does she do?”

“She’s someone to talk to.” She replied, a little awkwardly. “We, Setsuko and I, want you to feel comfortable without anyone else.”

Celeste wanted to protest and say she was fine, but then again, was she? She hesitated, and Katasha frowned, and went back to looking at her phone. Setsuko nudged the door open and announced her presence with a huff.

“Need help?” Katasha asked without looking up.

“Nope,” Setsuko assured her. “Celeste, come with me.”

She stood up and followed the other woman. “What’s happening?”

“Katasha’s trying to sell this bed online,” Setsuko guided her into her room and pointed at it. “And we’re going to set up this dresser. Then, we can put your clothing in it.”

Celeste tilted her head. “We?”

“I mean, yeah.” Setsuko shrugged. “The dresser isn’t gonna build itself. Unless, you don’t want to?”

What did she want. With Bailey, he always made the best decisions for her, now she wasn’t sure. Then again, it was a simple thing, and she’d feel guilty if she wasn’t helping out somewhat. “Okay, where’s the instructions?”

At some point between trying to get the legs even, Katasha came in and dragged the old bed frame out of the room.

Setsuko shouted to Katasha, “Turn on some music!”

And though Setsuko wasn’t even looking at her, didn’t even yell in her direction, Celeste flinched, and the blonde certainly didn’t miss her reaction.

“I’m sorry,” Setsuko said quietly, backing up a little. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“You didn’t, it’s fine.” Celeste assured her, because it wasn’t Setsuko, really, it was her fault.

“Cel, it’s okay to be scared.”

“I know,” She didn’t.

Soft piano music trickled through the door from the living room. Setsuko didn’t move. “Please, let me know if we become too much.”

“Okay.”

: : :

For the first night in a long time, Celeste slept alone in a room. They only had one mattress, something they needed to do the next day, so Setsuko changed the sheets and offered the bed to her.

Setsuko slept on the couch, Katasha in her own room, and Celeste was alone.

She hugged the little purple dragon to her chest like a child, staring at the unfamiliar ceiling. The room felt like home, or maybe it could be home.

“Chorven,” Celeste whispered to the darkness. “That’s your name, little dragon.”

She shut her eyes and slept.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm in need of a savior (savior), but I'm not asking for favors  
> My whole life, I've felt like a burden  
> I think too much, and I hate it  
> I'm so used to being in the wrong, I'm tired of caring  
> Loving never gave me a home, so I'll sit here in the silence
> 
> \- Silence by Khalid & Marshmello


End file.
